Kuwait City: Iran warned on Tuesday that the Saudi "attack" on Yemen endangered the whole region, calling for an immediate halt to the military operation against rebels.

"The fire of war in the region from any side... will drag the whole region to play with fire. This is not in the interest of the nations in the region," Iranian deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said.

"Military operations must stop immediately" to open the way to a political solution, he told reporters on the sidelines of a Syria donors conference in Kuwait. (AFP)

Kuwait City: Iran warned on Tuesday that the Saudi "attack" on Yemen endangered the whole region, calling for an immediate halt to the military operation against rebels.

"The fire of war in the region from any side... will drag the whole region to play with fire. This is not in the interest of the nations in the region," Iranian deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said.

"Military operations must stop immediately" to open the way to a political solution, he told reporters on the sidelines of a Syria donors conference in Kuwait. (AFP)

Beirut: The extremist Islamic State group Tuesday executed at least 30 civilians, including two children, in a raid on a regime-held village the central Syrian province of Hama, a monitor said.

IS "executed at least 30 people, including women and children, by burning, beheading, and firing on them" in the village of Mabujeh, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (AFP)

Beirut: The extremist Islamic State group Tuesday executed at least 30 civilians, including two children, in a raid on a regime-held village the central Syrian province of Hama, a monitor said.

IS "executed at least 30 people, including women and children, by burning, beheading, and firing on them" in the village of Mabujeh, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (AFP)

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked Saudi ArabiaÂ´s new king for his support in efforts to evacuate some 4,000 stranded Indians from war-torn Yemen.

Modi expressed his "deep concern about the safety and welfare of the approximately 4,000 Indian citizens in Yemen" when Saudi King Salman telephoned him late evening, the Indian foreign ministry said.

"Prime minister briefed his majesty King Salman on IndiaÂ´s evacuation plan and requested his majestyÂ´s support and cooperation," a ministry statement said, adding that the king assured Modi of "all possible assistance".

India has moved to airlift its citizens from the Middle East country, which has been plunged into chaos by a Houthi rebellion that has triggered Saudi-backed air strikes on the capital Sanaa.

Some 4,100 Indians are currently in Yemen, including 3,100 in Sanaa, 500 in Aden and the rest around the country.

The Saudi-led air strikes have hit the main international airport in Sanaa and a renegade troop base, as Arab leaders vow to pummel the rebels until they surrender.

India has also sent three navy and two passenger ships to help evacuate its workers and other citizens, many of whom are nurses from the southern state of Kerala.

India last week asked all its nationals to leave Yemen, where deadly fighting has sent tensions in the Middle East soaring.

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked Saudi ArabiaÂ´s new king for his support in efforts to evacuate some 4,000 stranded Indians from war-torn Yemen.

Modi expressed his "deep concern about the safety and welfare of the approximately 4,000 Indian citizens in Yemen" when Saudi King Salman telephoned him late evening, the Indian foreign ministry said.

"Prime minister briefed his majesty King Salman on IndiaÂ´s evacuation plan and requested his majestyÂ´s support and cooperation," a ministry statement said, adding that the king assured Modi of "all possible assistance".

India has moved to airlift its citizens from the Middle East country, which has been plunged into chaos by a Houthi rebellion that has triggered Saudi-backed air strikes on the capital Sanaa.

Some 4,100 Indians are currently in Yemen, including 3,100 in Sanaa, 500 in Aden and the rest around the country.

The Saudi-led air strikes have hit the main international airport in Sanaa and a renegade troop base, as Arab leaders vow to pummel the rebels until they surrender.

India has also sent three navy and two passenger ships to help evacuate its workers and other citizens, many of whom are nurses from the southern state of Kerala.

India last week asked all its nationals to leave Yemen, where deadly fighting has sent tensions in the Middle East soaring.

SRINAGAR: A landslide in Occupied Kashmir buried at least 10 people while they were sleeping, police said on Monday, as unseasonal rains swept India, damaging crops and raising fears of flash floods in the mountainous north.

Hundreds of people fled their homes as Kashmir's main rivers began to swell and weather forecasters predicted further downpours in the region that was struck by devastating floods seven months ago.

A hillside collapsed onto a house in a village about 40 kms from the capital Srinagar, where three families were sleeping on Monday morning, according to Mushtaq Ahmad, a neighbour. Army and police used diggers and shovels to locate any survivors."It was a huge landslide, the entire house is covered in earth," Ahmad said. "The chance of finding everyone alive is unlikely."

Local police superintendent Fayaz Ahmad Lone said 10 people were buried in the house in the village of Ledhan. Locals said the number could be higher.

India is experiencing more extreme rainfall events as the global climate warms, a study of 50 years of data by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology concluded.

This year, March has been the wettest month in more than a century, wrecking millions of hectares of winter crops. The crop damage has been blamed for a spate of rural suicides in recent weeks.

In September, the Kashmir valley suffered the worst flooding in more than a century, killing more than 200 people and displacing almost a million for weeks.

Weather officials said heavy showers would occur in isolated places in Kashmir over the next couple days although the intensity of rain is likely to diminish. The state has received surplus rainfall in two-thirds of its districts this month.

On Monday, the Kashmiri government declared a flood alert and asked people living near the river Jhelum, which flows through Srinagar, to leave their homes.

The government has established relief camps for those forced to flee.Mujeeb Ahmad, a doctor, left with his family on Sunday evening. "Last year my family was caught in floods and we were only rescued after four days," Ahmad said. "We donâ€™t want to take any chances."

SRINAGAR: A landslide in Occupied Kashmir buried at least 10 people while they were sleeping, police said on Monday, as unseasonal rains swept India, damaging crops and raising fears of flash floods in the mountainous north.

Hundreds of people fled their homes as Kashmir's main rivers began to swell and weather forecasters predicted further downpours in the region that was struck by devastating floods seven months ago.

A hillside collapsed onto a house in a village about 40 kms from the capital Srinagar, where three families were sleeping on Monday morning, according to Mushtaq Ahmad, a neighbour. Army and police used diggers and shovels to locate any survivors."It was a huge landslide, the entire house is covered in earth," Ahmad said. "The chance of finding everyone alive is unlikely."

Local police superintendent Fayaz Ahmad Lone said 10 people were buried in the house in the village of Ledhan. Locals said the number could be higher.

India is experiencing more extreme rainfall events as the global climate warms, a study of 50 years of data by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology concluded.

This year, March has been the wettest month in more than a century, wrecking millions of hectares of winter crops. The crop damage has been blamed for a spate of rural suicides in recent weeks.

In September, the Kashmir valley suffered the worst flooding in more than a century, killing more than 200 people and displacing almost a million for weeks.

Weather officials said heavy showers would occur in isolated places in Kashmir over the next couple days although the intensity of rain is likely to diminish. The state has received surplus rainfall in two-thirds of its districts this month.

On Monday, the Kashmiri government declared a flood alert and asked people living near the river Jhelum, which flows through Srinagar, to leave their homes.

The government has established relief camps for those forced to flee.Mujeeb Ahmad, a doctor, left with his family on Sunday evening. "Last year my family was caught in floods and we were only rescued after four days," Ahmad said. "We donâ€™t want to take any chances."

Yemeni fighters loyal to the Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi clashed with Houthi fighters on Sunday in Aden, the absent leader's last major foothold in the country.

Hadi loyalists in the southern port city reported a gunbattle in the central Crater district in which three people were killed, and said they recaptured the airport, which has changed hands several times in recent days.

The Health Ministry, loyal to the Houthi fighters who control the capital, said Saudi-led air strikes had killed 35 people and wounded 88 overnight. The figures could not be independently confirmed.

The Houthi fighters, emerged as the most powerful force in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country last year when they captured the capital Sanaa.

Saudi Arabia has rallied Arab countries in an air campaign to support Hadi, who moved to Aden in February and is now in Riyadh after leaving Yemen in the past week.

The fighting has brought civil war to a country that was already sliding into chaos and which had been a battlefield for the secret US drone war against al Qaeda.

While the Houthi fighters and their army allies continued to make gains after the air strikes were first launched early on Thursday, they appeared to suffer reversals on Sunday on three fronts -- in Aden's northern suburbs, in Dhalea province north of the city and in the eastern province of Shabwa.

A Saudi military spokesman said the coalition it leads would step up pressure on the Houthis and their allies in the next few days. "There will be no safe place for the Houthi militia groups," Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri told reporters.

Coalition warplanes struck military targets at airports in the capital Sanaa and in Hodeida, the main Red Sea port. However, Asseri said operations over Hodeida were halted for two hours to allow the evacuation of 500 Pakistani nationals.

In the northern city of Saada, a Houthi stronghold near the Saudi border, strikes hit bases belonging to the militia and their ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who still controls most army units.

Asseri said strikes on Saturday night had targeted former Yemeni air force planes which the Houthis had moved from Sanaa to another air base. Very few jets remained in Houthi hands and they too would be destroyed, he said.

Saleh stood down after a 2011 uprising but still wields wide influence in Yemen. He appealed on Saturday to Arab leaders meeting in Egypt to halt their four-day offensive and resume talks on political transition in Yemen, promising that neither he nor his relatives would seek the presidency.

Hadi's Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen dismissed his comments as "the talk of losers".

SAUDIS SAY CAMPAIGN TO GO ON

Saudi King Salman told the Arab summit that military operations would continue until their objectives were met.

But a diplomat in the Gulf said it was unclear exactly what those military objectives were. "There is no political vision for the process. They donâ€™t know the shape of the end game," he said. "They did not even determine how they can claim victory".

In Egypt, the Arab leaders announced the formation of a unified military force to counter growing threats including Yemen's conflict. Working out the mechanism and logistics of the unified force, an idea floated by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, could take months. [ID:nL6N0WV03T]

In a rare move, Saudi-owned television channel Al-Arabiya broadcast a detailed account of what it said was a proposal last week to the Saudi leadership by Saleh's son Ahmed to head off military intervention by breaking with the Houthis.

Al-Arabiya said Prince Mohammad rejected the proposal. "There must be a return to legitimacy in the form of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to lead Yemen from the capital Sanaa," it quoted him as saying.

Yemeni fighters loyal to the Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi clashed with Houthi fighters on Sunday in Aden, the absent leader's last major foothold in the country.

Hadi loyalists in the southern port city reported a gunbattle in the central Crater district in which three people were killed, and said they recaptured the airport, which has changed hands several times in recent days.

The Health Ministry, loyal to the Houthi fighters who control the capital, said Saudi-led air strikes had killed 35 people and wounded 88 overnight. The figures could not be independently confirmed.

The Houthi fighters, emerged as the most powerful force in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country last year when they captured the capital Sanaa.

Saudi Arabia has rallied Arab countries in an air campaign to support Hadi, who moved to Aden in February and is now in Riyadh after leaving Yemen in the past week.

The fighting has brought civil war to a country that was already sliding into chaos and which had been a battlefield for the secret US drone war against al Qaeda.

While the Houthi fighters and their army allies continued to make gains after the air strikes were first launched early on Thursday, they appeared to suffer reversals on Sunday on three fronts -- in Aden's northern suburbs, in Dhalea province north of the city and in the eastern province of Shabwa.

A Saudi military spokesman said the coalition it leads would step up pressure on the Houthis and their allies in the next few days. "There will be no safe place for the Houthi militia groups," Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri told reporters.

Coalition warplanes struck military targets at airports in the capital Sanaa and in Hodeida, the main Red Sea port. However, Asseri said operations over Hodeida were halted for two hours to allow the evacuation of 500 Pakistani nationals.

In the northern city of Saada, a Houthi stronghold near the Saudi border, strikes hit bases belonging to the militia and their ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who still controls most army units.

Asseri said strikes on Saturday night had targeted former Yemeni air force planes which the Houthis had moved from Sanaa to another air base. Very few jets remained in Houthi hands and they too would be destroyed, he said.

Saleh stood down after a 2011 uprising but still wields wide influence in Yemen. He appealed on Saturday to Arab leaders meeting in Egypt to halt their four-day offensive and resume talks on political transition in Yemen, promising that neither he nor his relatives would seek the presidency.

Hadi's Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen dismissed his comments as "the talk of losers".

SAUDIS SAY CAMPAIGN TO GO ON

Saudi King Salman told the Arab summit that military operations would continue until their objectives were met.

But a diplomat in the Gulf said it was unclear exactly what those military objectives were. "There is no political vision for the process. They donâ€™t know the shape of the end game," he said. "They did not even determine how they can claim victory".

In Egypt, the Arab leaders announced the formation of a unified military force to counter growing threats including Yemen's conflict. Working out the mechanism and logistics of the unified force, an idea floated by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, could take months. [ID:nL6N0WV03T]

In a rare move, Saudi-owned television channel Al-Arabiya broadcast a detailed account of what it said was a proposal last week to the Saudi leadership by Saleh's son Ahmed to head off military intervention by breaking with the Houthis.

Al-Arabiya said Prince Mohammad rejected the proposal. "There must be a return to legitimacy in the form of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to lead Yemen from the capital Sanaa," it quoted him as saying.

LAUSANNE: Iran and world powers have reached tentative agreement on parts of a deal sharply curtailing Tehranâ€™s nuclear programme, Western diplomats said Sunday while cautioning a deal is by no means done.

As negotiators in Switzerland raced against the clock, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a blistering attack on the "dangerous" accord that may be emerging.

One Western diplomat said Iran had "more or less" agreed to slash the number of its centrifuge machines by more than two-thirds from 20,000 to 6,000 and to ship abroad most of its stockpile of nuclear material.

A senior Iranian negotiator, however, denied the comment saying such claims were aimed at "disturbing" the talks.

IranÂ´s chief negotiator Abbas Araqchi said late Sunday, as BritainÂ´s Philip Hammond became the final major power foreign minister to arrive in Lausanne, that its stocks would not be exported.

But at the same time Iranians have expressed guarded optimism that after 18 months of tortuous negotiations and two missed deadlines, a breakthrough might be in sight for a deal ending 12 years of tensions.

"Getting to an accord is doable. Solutions have been found for numerous questions. We are still working on two or three issues... The talks are in their final phase and are very difficult," Abbas told reporters in Lausanne.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, locked in talks since Thursday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, cancelled plans to leave, as did their German and French counterparts.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Saturday talks were in the "endgame". Hammond, arriving soon after RussiaÂ´s Sergei Lavrov, said a deal "can be done".

Aim of the game

The aim is to agree broad outlines for an accord by TuesdayÂ´s midnight deadline, and then flesh out a series of complex annexes containing all the technical details by June 30.

The mooted deal would see Iran scale down its nuclear programme and allow unprecedented inspections of its remaining activities.

The hope is to prolong the theoretical "breakout" time that Iran would need to produce enough fissile material to build a nuclear bomb to at least a year from the current estimate of several months.

This would require a combination of slashing the number of centrifuges, converting existing nuclear plants such as the underground Fordo facility, exporting its stocks of enriched uranium and limiting the development of newer, faster equipment.

This last issue is thought to be a particularly thorny issue, as is the issue of lifting UN, EU and US sanctions that have choked Iranâ€™s economy by strangling its oil exports and banks.

Abbas said Sunday that there must be a "precise framework" for lifting sanctions if Iran is to agree to any deal. The duration of the deal â€“ the US wants at least 10 and possibly up to 15 years â€“ is also a point of contention.

"All the sanctions have to be lifted â€“ those of the EU, the United States and the UN Security Council. There are six (UN Security Council) resolutions that have to be annulled," Araqchi said.

A European official said last week that a phased suspension â€“ but not termination â€“ of EU and US sanctions would be enough to offer Iran "huge relief" but that doing the same with UN sanctions was tricky.

"Ultimately, itÂ´s time for the Iranians to send a clear signal to the international community about whether or not theyÂ´re willing to make the serious commitments required," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told ABC television Sunday.

Â´DangerousÂ´

But for Israel and US President Barack ObamaÂ´s Republican opponents, the agreement will not go far enough to stop Iran one day getting the bomb.

Kerry is under pressure to return from Lausanne with something concrete to head off a push by Republican lawmakers to introduce yet more sanctions, potentially torpedoing the whole negotiating process.

"The dangerous accord which is being negotiated in Lausanne confirms our concerns and even worse," Netanyahu said in remarks broadcast on public radio.

He said the "Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axis" was "dangerous for all of humanity" and that combined with Tehranâ€™s regional influence, a nuclear deal could allow Iran to "conquer" the Middle East.

"I just donÂ´t understand why we would sign an agreement with a group of people who in my opinion have no intention of keeping their word," US House Speaker John Boehner, due to travel to Israel this week, told CNN.

Russia has also warned that US-supported airstrikes by Iranâ€™s foe Saudi Arabia on Iran-backed rebels in Yemen â€“ hence Netanyahuâ€™s comment â€“ were "having an impact" on the negotiations.

LAUSANNE: Iran and world powers have reached tentative agreement on parts of a deal sharply curtailing Tehranâ€™s nuclear programme, Western diplomats said Sunday while cautioning a deal is by no means done.

As negotiators in Switzerland raced against the clock, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a blistering attack on the "dangerous" accord that may be emerging.

One Western diplomat said Iran had "more or less" agreed to slash the number of its centrifuge machines by more than two-thirds from 20,000 to 6,000 and to ship abroad most of its stockpile of nuclear material.

A senior Iranian negotiator, however, denied the comment saying such claims were aimed at "disturbing" the talks.

IranÂ´s chief negotiator Abbas Araqchi said late Sunday, as BritainÂ´s Philip Hammond became the final major power foreign minister to arrive in Lausanne, that its stocks would not be exported.

But at the same time Iranians have expressed guarded optimism that after 18 months of tortuous negotiations and two missed deadlines, a breakthrough might be in sight for a deal ending 12 years of tensions.

"Getting to an accord is doable. Solutions have been found for numerous questions. We are still working on two or three issues... The talks are in their final phase and are very difficult," Abbas told reporters in Lausanne.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, locked in talks since Thursday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, cancelled plans to leave, as did their German and French counterparts.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Saturday talks were in the "endgame". Hammond, arriving soon after RussiaÂ´s Sergei Lavrov, said a deal "can be done".

Aim of the game

The aim is to agree broad outlines for an accord by TuesdayÂ´s midnight deadline, and then flesh out a series of complex annexes containing all the technical details by June 30.

The mooted deal would see Iran scale down its nuclear programme and allow unprecedented inspections of its remaining activities.

The hope is to prolong the theoretical "breakout" time that Iran would need to produce enough fissile material to build a nuclear bomb to at least a year from the current estimate of several months.

This would require a combination of slashing the number of centrifuges, converting existing nuclear plants such as the underground Fordo facility, exporting its stocks of enriched uranium and limiting the development of newer, faster equipment.

This last issue is thought to be a particularly thorny issue, as is the issue of lifting UN, EU and US sanctions that have choked Iranâ€™s economy by strangling its oil exports and banks.

Abbas said Sunday that there must be a "precise framework" for lifting sanctions if Iran is to agree to any deal. The duration of the deal â€“ the US wants at least 10 and possibly up to 15 years â€“ is also a point of contention.

"All the sanctions have to be lifted â€“ those of the EU, the United States and the UN Security Council. There are six (UN Security Council) resolutions that have to be annulled," Araqchi said.

A European official said last week that a phased suspension â€“ but not termination â€“ of EU and US sanctions would be enough to offer Iran "huge relief" but that doing the same with UN sanctions was tricky.

"Ultimately, itÂ´s time for the Iranians to send a clear signal to the international community about whether or not theyÂ´re willing to make the serious commitments required," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told ABC television Sunday.

Â´DangerousÂ´

But for Israel and US President Barack ObamaÂ´s Republican opponents, the agreement will not go far enough to stop Iran one day getting the bomb.

Kerry is under pressure to return from Lausanne with something concrete to head off a push by Republican lawmakers to introduce yet more sanctions, potentially torpedoing the whole negotiating process.

"The dangerous accord which is being negotiated in Lausanne confirms our concerns and even worse," Netanyahu said in remarks broadcast on public radio.

He said the "Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axis" was "dangerous for all of humanity" and that combined with Tehranâ€™s regional influence, a nuclear deal could allow Iran to "conquer" the Middle East.

"I just donÂ´t understand why we would sign an agreement with a group of people who in my opinion have no intention of keeping their word," US House Speaker John Boehner, due to travel to Israel this week, told CNN.

Russia has also warned that US-supported airstrikes by Iranâ€™s foe Saudi Arabia on Iran-backed rebels in Yemen â€“ hence Netanyahuâ€™s comment â€“ were "having an impact" on the negotiations.

BERLIN: The captain of a passenger jet that investigators believe was deliberately crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 aboard, shouted at the co-pilot to "open the damn door" as he desperately tried to get back into the locked cockpit, a German newspaper reported Sunday.

Forensic teams meanwhile announced that they had isolated 78 distinct DNA strands from body parts at the mountain crash site with investigators describing the difficulty of the search as "unprecedented" due to the arduous terrain.

French officials say the planeÂ´s black box voice recorder indicates that Andreas Lubitz, 27, locked the captain out of the cockpit of the Germanwings jet and steered Flight 4U 9525 into a mountainside.

They believe that the more senior pilot, identified by GermanyÂ´s Bild newspaper as Patrick S., tried desperately to reopen the door during the Barcelona to Duesseldorf flightÂ´s eight-minute descent after he left to use the toilet.

The mass-circulation paperÂ´s Sunday edition reported that data from the cockpit recorder showed the captain shouted: "For GodÂ´s sake, open the door", as passengersÂ´ screams could be heard in the background.

It said "loud metallic blows" against the cockpit door could then be heard, before another warning alarm went off and then the pilot is heard to scream to a silent Lubitz in the cockpit "open the damn door".

Investigators in the Alps said the violence of the impact and the remote location was severely hampering the search for both body parts and the second "black box".

"We havenÂ´t found a single body intact," said Patrick Touron, deputy director of the policeÂ´s criminal research institute.

"We have slopes of 40 to 60 degrees, falling rocks, and ground that tends to crumble," said Touron. "Some things have to be done by abseiling."

As investigators seek to build up a picture of Lubitz and any possible motives, media reports have emerged that he suffered from eye problems, adding to earlier reports he was severely depressed.

German prosecutors believe Lubitz hid an illness from his airline but have not specified the ailment, and said he had apparently been written off sick on the day the Airbus crashed.

Sight problem

The Sunday edition of GermanyÂ´s Bild tabloid and the New York Times, which cited two officials with knowledge of the investigation, said Lubitz had sought treatment for problems with his sight.

It is thought to be a retinal detachment, the German weekly said.

It also reported that LubitzÂ´s girlfriend with whom he lived in the western city of Duesseldorf was believed to be pregnant.

It gave no sources but said the teacher, who taught maths and English, had told pupils a few weeks ago she was expecting a baby.

BildÂ´s Saturday edition had published an interview with a flight attendant who it said had had a relationship last year with Lubitz and recalled him saying: "One day IÂ´m going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember."

If Lubitz did deliberately crash the plane, it was "because he understood that because of his health problems, his big dream of a job at Lufthansa, of a job as captain and as a long-haul pilot was practically impossible", the woman told Bild.

German prosecutors revealed Friday that searches of LubitzÂ´s homes netted "medical documents that suggest an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment", including "torn-up and current sick leave notes, among them one covering the day of the crash".

Police have found a number "of medicines for the treatment of psychological illness" during a search at his Duesseldorf home, Welt am Sonntag newspaper said.

It added that the Germanwings co-pilot was suffering from being overstressed and was severely depressive, according to personal notes found.

Search for second black box

French police investigator Jean-Pierre Michel told AFP Saturday that LubitzÂ´s personality was a "serious lead" in the inquiry but not the only one.

The investigation has so far not turned up a "particular element" in the co-pilotÂ´s life which could explain his alleged action, he said.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr has said that Lubitz had suspended his pilot training, which began in 2008, "for a certain period", before restarting and qualifying for the Airbus A320 in 2013.

The second-in-command had passed all psychological tests required for training, Spohr told reporters.

Germany is to hold a national memorial ceremony on April 17 for the victims of the disaster, half of whom were German, with Spain accounting for at least 50 and the remainder composed of more than a dozen other nationalities.

FranceÂ´s Investigation and Analysis Bureau (BEA), tasked with investigating civil aviation accidents, meanwhile said it was "dismayed" by the revelations in the German press which it said smacked of "voyeurism".

BERLIN: The captain of a passenger jet that investigators believe was deliberately crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 aboard, shouted at the co-pilot to "open the damn door" as he desperately tried to get back into the locked cockpit, a German newspaper reported Sunday.

Forensic teams meanwhile announced that they had isolated 78 distinct DNA strands from body parts at the mountain crash site with investigators describing the difficulty of the search as "unprecedented" due to the arduous terrain.

French officials say the planeÂ´s black box voice recorder indicates that Andreas Lubitz, 27, locked the captain out of the cockpit of the Germanwings jet and steered Flight 4U 9525 into a mountainside.

They believe that the more senior pilot, identified by GermanyÂ´s Bild newspaper as Patrick S., tried desperately to reopen the door during the Barcelona to Duesseldorf flightÂ´s eight-minute descent after he left to use the toilet.

The mass-circulation paperÂ´s Sunday edition reported that data from the cockpit recorder showed the captain shouted: "For GodÂ´s sake, open the door", as passengersÂ´ screams could be heard in the background.

It said "loud metallic blows" against the cockpit door could then be heard, before another warning alarm went off and then the pilot is heard to scream to a silent Lubitz in the cockpit "open the damn door".

Investigators in the Alps said the violence of the impact and the remote location was severely hampering the search for both body parts and the second "black box".

"We havenÂ´t found a single body intact," said Patrick Touron, deputy director of the policeÂ´s criminal research institute.

"We have slopes of 40 to 60 degrees, falling rocks, and ground that tends to crumble," said Touron. "Some things have to be done by abseiling."

As investigators seek to build up a picture of Lubitz and any possible motives, media reports have emerged that he suffered from eye problems, adding to earlier reports he was severely depressed.

German prosecutors believe Lubitz hid an illness from his airline but have not specified the ailment, and said he had apparently been written off sick on the day the Airbus crashed.

Sight problem

The Sunday edition of GermanyÂ´s Bild tabloid and the New York Times, which cited two officials with knowledge of the investigation, said Lubitz had sought treatment for problems with his sight.

It is thought to be a retinal detachment, the German weekly said.

It also reported that LubitzÂ´s girlfriend with whom he lived in the western city of Duesseldorf was believed to be pregnant.

It gave no sources but said the teacher, who taught maths and English, had told pupils a few weeks ago she was expecting a baby.

BildÂ´s Saturday edition had published an interview with a flight attendant who it said had had a relationship last year with Lubitz and recalled him saying: "One day IÂ´m going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember."

If Lubitz did deliberately crash the plane, it was "because he understood that because of his health problems, his big dream of a job at Lufthansa, of a job as captain and as a long-haul pilot was practically impossible", the woman told Bild.

German prosecutors revealed Friday that searches of LubitzÂ´s homes netted "medical documents that suggest an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment", including "torn-up and current sick leave notes, among them one covering the day of the crash".

Police have found a number "of medicines for the treatment of psychological illness" during a search at his Duesseldorf home, Welt am Sonntag newspaper said.

It added that the Germanwings co-pilot was suffering from being overstressed and was severely depressive, according to personal notes found.

Search for second black box

French police investigator Jean-Pierre Michel told AFP Saturday that LubitzÂ´s personality was a "serious lead" in the inquiry but not the only one.

The investigation has so far not turned up a "particular element" in the co-pilotÂ´s life which could explain his alleged action, he said.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr has said that Lubitz had suspended his pilot training, which began in 2008, "for a certain period", before restarting and qualifying for the Airbus A320 in 2013.

The second-in-command had passed all psychological tests required for training, Spohr told reporters.

Germany is to hold a national memorial ceremony on April 17 for the victims of the disaster, half of whom were German, with Spain accounting for at least 50 and the remainder composed of more than a dozen other nationalities.

FranceÂ´s Investigation and Analysis Bureau (BEA), tasked with investigating civil aviation accidents, meanwhile said it was "dismayed" by the revelations in the German press which it said smacked of "voyeurism".

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Arab leaders have agreed to form a joint military force, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Sunday on the second and final day of the Arab League summit.

â€œThe Arab leaders had decided to agree on the principle of a joint Arab military force,â€ Sisi said in a speech at the gathering in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Arab representatives would meet to study the creation of the force, said Sisi.

The decision was mostly aimed at fighting extremists who have overrun swathes of Iraq and Syria and won a foothold in Libya, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said ahead of the summit.

On Sunday, Arabi told the meeting that the region was threatened by a â€œdestructiveâ€ force that threatened â€œethnic and religious diversityâ€, in an apparent reference to the Islamic State militant group.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Arab leaders have agreed to form a joint military force, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Sunday on the second and final day of the Arab League summit.

â€œThe Arab leaders had decided to agree on the principle of a joint Arab military force,â€ Sisi said in a speech at the gathering in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Arab representatives would meet to study the creation of the force, said Sisi.

The decision was mostly aimed at fighting extremists who have overrun swathes of Iraq and Syria and won a foothold in Libya, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said ahead of the summit.

On Sunday, Arabi told the meeting that the region was threatened by a â€œdestructiveâ€ force that threatened â€œethnic and religious diversityâ€, in an apparent reference to the Islamic State militant group.

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